163 
3. The aerial census of 1952 covered 289 linear miles or 72. 1 
square miles. A total of 3,865 ducks were counted on these flights, 
or an average of 53.6 birds per square mile. This was a decrease 
of approximately 30.0 percent from the 1951 counts. This was 
probably not a decrease but a scattering of the birds over more 
flooded ground. Counts on State refuges showed an increase for 
all species except the Canada goose. 
4. Redheads were the most prominent species noted on the aerial 
census routes (37.9 percent). Other important species were 
cinnamon teal (25.0 percent), mallard (9.0 percent), and gadwall 
8.6 percent). These counts do not accurately represent the 
breeding ground population for northern Utah as most of the counts 
were made on open water where redheads could be easily counted. 
Many of the upland nesters, such as pintail and mallard were already 
nesting and scattered throughout the farming sections where they 
could not be counted. 
